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Johannesburg - He put up a commendable fight and played his part in ensuring an engrossing final in the historic, initial Soweto Open at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex on Sunday, but ultimately South Africa's Rik De Voest succumbed to the slow poison of French tennis sorcerer Fabrice Santoro that has at different times accounted for many of the best players in the world.
Top-seeded Santoro won a 1hr 30min battle of attrition 7-5 6-4 in energy-sapping heat of 35 degrees to net the R140 000 top prize and utilised his greater variety of strokes and experience to grind De Voest into the ground, with South Africa's current number one Davis Cup player eventually capitulating somewhat tamely by dropping his serve for the first time in the second set in the final game.
For all this, De Voest came out of the match with a good deal of credit, particularly as he had been hampered by stomach cramps, with a number of costly indiscretions under the pressure of the occasion preventing the world's 180th-ranked player achieving a little more against an opponent with 21 years experience who is rated 128 places above him in the rankings.
Tightening up at critical moments, it seemed, a spate of uncharacteristic double faults proved the big bugbear for De Voest, with a tentative double fault from the South African enabling Santoro to break back to 2-2 in the first set and two more gifted double faults in the final game helping the Frenchman take the set.
And the missing link from what has otherwise been a highly successful venture materialised on Sunday, with the stadium more than half full and a spate of potential budding young players from Soweto providing appropriate atmosphere in the 1 500 crowd.
To compound De Voest's problems, Santoro found as though by magic a lethal service touch in the second set after changing the strings of his racket and delivered seven, sweetly-times aces.
The 36 year-old French tennis magician will now spend a week in South Africa on safari and shaved off his beard for the occasion, but despite his upsurge in form this year, which he credits mainly to his improved serve, he was adamant he would not change his mind about retiring at the end of the year.
As for De Voest, he again played tennis to suggest he could earn a far better ranking than the one he occupies at the moment, but as one viewer suggested he might just be "too much of a nice guy" and needs to become more ruthless on the court.
For all this, the game was played mainly in exemplary fashion by both likeable players, with Santoro only blowing up once over a line call -and then hitting the ball out of the stadium like a baseball player hitting a home run to earn a warning.
On a more low-key note, Chris Guccione of Australia and George Bastl of Switzerland beat Michail Elgin and Alexandre Kudrayavtsev of Russia 6-2 4-6 11-9 in a doubles final that was decided in the 10-point tiebreaker - sharing R60 000 as the winners' prize.
Top-seeded Santoro won a 1hr 30min battle of attrition 7-5 6-4 in energy-sapping heat of 35 degrees to net the R140 000 top prize and utilised his greater variety of strokes and experience to grind De Voest into the ground, with South Africa's current number one Davis Cup player eventually capitulating somewhat tamely by dropping his serve for the first time in the second set in the final game.
For all this, De Voest came out of the match with a good deal of credit, particularly as he had been hampered by stomach cramps, with a number of costly indiscretions under the pressure of the occasion preventing the world's 180th-ranked player achieving a little more against an opponent with 21 years experience who is rated 128 places above him in the rankings.
Tightening up at critical moments, it seemed, a spate of uncharacteristic double faults proved the big bugbear for De Voest, with a tentative double fault from the South African enabling Santoro to break back to 2-2 in the first set and two more gifted double faults in the final game helping the Frenchman take the set.
And the missing link from what has otherwise been a highly successful venture materialised on Sunday, with the stadium more than half full and a spate of potential budding young players from Soweto providing appropriate atmosphere in the 1 500 crowd.
To compound De Voest's problems, Santoro found as though by magic a lethal service touch in the second set after changing the strings of his racket and delivered seven, sweetly-times aces.
The 36 year-old French tennis magician will now spend a week in South Africa on safari and shaved off his beard for the occasion, but despite his upsurge in form this year, which he credits mainly to his improved serve, he was adamant he would not change his mind about retiring at the end of the year.
As for De Voest, he again played tennis to suggest he could earn a far better ranking than the one he occupies at the moment, but as one viewer suggested he might just be "too much of a nice guy" and needs to become more ruthless on the court.
For all this, the game was played mainly in exemplary fashion by both likeable players, with Santoro only blowing up once over a line call -and then hitting the ball out of the stadium like a baseball player hitting a home run to earn a warning.
On a more low-key note, Chris Guccione of Australia and George Bastl of Switzerland beat Michail Elgin and Alexandre Kudrayavtsev of Russia 6-2 4-6 11-9 in a doubles final that was decided in the 10-point tiebreaker - sharing R60 000 as the winners' prize.
